Self sufficiency topic: First Aid

[stef]

I wonder if anyone here has any practical experience in Kung Fu.
Where is Hurling?

Everyone does, Yngvi, everyone does.

[newguyray]

Hey, Rip.

My favorite SS podcast of yours was the Self-sufficiency podcast that you put out a year or so ago. During that podcast, you mention stocking up on antibiotics, etc. You may have even mentioned ordering medication from an Indian telemarketer, but I digress.

My question is this - do you have any recommendations on books, resources around becoming competent/confident at applying first aid? I've taken a CPR course year ago, but that's the extent to my experience.

Thanks!

To get serious about first aid, the folks at Dark Angel Medical have a course that looks pretty thorough (I have no affiliation with them). They also provide the medical training portion of the "Bullets and Bandages" course that Sig Academy offers.

Here's a quick summary of what is taught:

The course covers the following:

Physiological and Psychological reactions to environmental stress
The importance of having the proper Combat Mindset
Basic Anatomy and Physiology of life-sustaining systems
H, A, B, C’s—Hemorrhage, Airway, Breathing and Circulation
Breakdown and usage of Individual Med Kit components
Proper stowage and employment of the IMK
Hands-on application of the IMK
Basic and Advanced Airway management -treating and monitoring tension pneumothorax, sucking chest wound and flail chest
Airway adjunct device placement-Nasopharyngeal Airway
Basic First Aid and Advanced wound care
Application of Bandages and Hemostatic Agents
Application of tourniquets
Recognition and Treatment of various injuries (Gunshot, Laceration, Burn, Airway, Head, Orthopedic, Environmental)
Recognition and treatment of hypovolemic (hemorrhagic) shock
Moving and positioning victims with various injuries
Response to active shooter situation
Proper use of cover and cover vs. concealment
Casualty recovery in an Active Shooter situation
Mass casualty triage procedure
Emergency Medical Dialect/Lingo (911 protocol, cooperation with LE, Fire and EMS and First Responders)

Direct Action Response Training - Cleveland, OH - 15-16 October 2022 - Dark Angel Medical

[TraumaGoat]

I love questions like this.

First and foremost, are you learning skills to apply only to yourself, or are you practicing such that you can assist others?

Assuming that you only intend to “save yourself” a lot of basic medical knowledge is useful, but may not pertain at the individual level. A great example of this is airway management; you’re not likely to drop an NPA or even less likely an OPA on yourself. Chances are if your own airway needs to be managed, you need to be in an ER.

Conversely, airway management is arguably the most important factor in a patient-crisis management scenario, where you are the responsible party for another’s immediate well being. The only reasonable argument being rapid hemorrhage control that supersedes airway issues. In the civilian sector, we often use the acronym ABC (airway, breathing, circulation; while the military trauma paradigm is C-ABC (circulation being first, pertaining to blood loss).

But let’s assume you only intend to save yourself. The most rudimentary skills and education can be obtained through a 4-6 week EMT-B course at your local community college. Any education that claims to be only online is garbage. You need to get your hands on the tools like tourniquets, a blood pressure cuff, pressure dressings, chest seals ect.

I’ve been an EMT for 5 years and feel very confident with BLS (basic life support) interventions. I don’t know how to start IV’s or cardiovert anyone. But if I broke my femur in a car accident, had a concussion, lost an eye, or severely burned myself: I could probably manage until I got to a hospital.

[amilner]

First, thank you all for the replies. I have some reading to do.

I love questions like this.

First and foremost, are you learning skills to apply only to yourself, or are you practicing such that you can assist others?

I'm not sure if your question was rhetorical or not. Either way -> I would be practicing so to assist others, but not in any professional way.

But if I broke my femur in a car accident, had a concussion, lost an eye, or severely burned myself

For instance, if any of the above happened to my family members (or myself) - I would like to be confident about what to do without googling it.

[gadders]

One thing to note is that in the UK (possibly due to today's health and safety culture), in the event of a mass casualty event like a bombing, paramedics won't come to your assistance until they know the location is safe.

Why were the emergency services so slow responding to the Manchester bombing?

Claire Booth was put in the impossible position of having to decide whether to care for her sister or her daughter after the Manchester Arena attack. She understandably chose to look after her 12-year-old daughter, Hollie, but the decision still haunts her. More than anything, she wishes that emergency help had arrived quickly, in whatever form, and that the three of them had been taken to hospital for proper care. Kelly Brewster, her bubbly, music-loving sister did not survive the bombing.

The speed of the emergency response may not have made a difference to Kelly but it may be that two others among the 22 victims could have been saved – eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos and 28-year-old John Atkinson.

Those who lay injured and in immense pain in the City Room foyer where the bomb went off, including Claire and Hollie, wanted help to arrive as quickly as possible. As did Martin Hibbert, whose spinal cord was severed and whose 14-year-old daughter, Eve, was covered up and left for dead, when she was actually still alive.

The reason emergency help did not arrive is because the ambulance and fire services were performing risk assessments before they would go to the scene of the explosion.

Also:

Claire Booth has sat quietly at the back of the public inquiry almost every day it has run this past 11 months and last week it was finally her turn to give evidence.

Her words are worth reading:

‘I've sat here more or less day since September and I’m completely shocked to have seen that in events such as this, it’s widely known that medical assistance won’t be with you immediately.

‘It’s written into policies, procedures, yet me, as a member of the public, had absolutely no idea that if I was ever in a terrorist attack, I wouldn’t get medical help straightaway.

‘I think that is something that needs to be in the public domain. If you choose to go somewhere public while we’ve got a severe terrorist threat in the country, you’re doing that on the understanding that you’ll have to look after yourself, or it might just be other members of the public that are caring for you instead.

‘I do think it should be publicly known that medical assistance cannot always come to you immediately because if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have just sat and waited, I would have done absolutely anything that I could to get the three of us out of that room.’

[David A. Rowe]

First, thank you all for the replies. I have some reading to do.



I'm not sure if your question was rhetorical or not. Either way -> I would be practicing so to assist others, but not in any professional way.




For instance, if any of the above happened to my family members (or myself) - I would like to be confident about what to do without googling it.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong, but you're not going to build skills overnight. First aid/CPR/AED are widely available. TECC/TCCC is all about keeping blood in the body which is the most critical factor for survival. Airway management, decompression needles, and stability of life threatening injuries (spinal, partial amputation, etc.) are closely behind.

The only solution is knowledge, training and thousands of reps of practice. Understanding body mechanics from martial arts and strength training has even helped me when dealing with casualties. Broaden your perspective later, though. For now... pick something and get to work on it.

[Mark Rippetoe]

One thing to note is that in the UK (possibly due to today's health and safety culture), in the event of a mass casualty event like a bombing, paramedics won't come to your assistance until they know the location is safe.

Why were the emergency services so slow responding to the Manchester bombing?

Why does it make sense to live in a city in the UK if the services provided by proximity to way too many people are not going to be provided because they are afraid?

[VNV]

Everyone does, Yngvi, everyone does.

Who are the privileged few on the platform with Rip?